Dear Loonatics
by Akira Cat
Summary: It's been a year since the meteor crashed onto Earth and gave the Loonatics their powers, a year since they've heard from their old collegues, family and friends. That was until they each receive letters addressed to them. Sequel to "The Rise of Heroes".
1. Dear Slam

Chapter 1 - Dear Slam

Hey Slam!

Way to go man! I can't believe you're still a superhero! Even after a year when you got those amazing powers, I'm still impressed. I mean, it's not everyday you see a giant meteor, crashing down onto our city and giving people like you some special powers. You must have one hell of a time saving people's lives and catching criminals. No matter what you do, you always seem to have a lot more fun there than what you were when you were in the wrestling ring.

There are a lot of things I appreciate about you when I think about you now.

One, before you became a superhero you were always forced to lose by the manager and some of the other wrestlers. I knew from your expressions that you didn't like that, but you had to in order to feed yourself and your family. I knew you were going through some tough times because of the way people were treating you. Shell knew too. We both did wish we could help in anyway. You never asked for it though. But now you're making sure you and the rest of your gang are the winners. Okay, you don't have a choice to lose but we know it's better for humanity if you guys beat whatever's being thrown at you. Ha ha! But seriously, now that you're allowed to let your competitive side out it's better than any wrestling match anyone can see.

Two, apart from me, Shell, your family, no-one liked or cared about you. And even if they did want you, it was only because they wanted you as their bodyguard or something selfish like that. All the manager cared about was the money. Dirty stuff. It's been passed around the whole economical circle by a lot of people, and maybe someone could have sneezed on that ten quasarlium bill. So if you catch any illness all of the sudden, you could blame the money. But that's not the point, when I see you with your other friends you look a lot more happier with them. They genuninely care about you and look as though they'd do anything for you. And obviously you'd do the same because you care about them too. I'm glad you're with people who want you for who you are.

That's why Shell and I quit the wrestling industry and got different jobs.

Shell's become a fully qualified car mechanic, so whenever I break down I get a firend's discount through her, ha ha! I was joking, she can't do that. But she has taken up judo so she could become a judo instructor as well. So far she's on a green belt which is good if you ask me. We still keep in touch to see what we're up to.

As for me, I've become a fitness instructor at the Acme gym. The pay is better, plus I get to see some lovely fit ladies working out, and others that aren't so lovely. If you're thinking about working out in there I'll be waiting.

When we have nothing to do, we should go to that pizza place that we always used to hang out in. I know you'd like it because pizza is one of your many favourite food. So I'm putting mine and Shell's mobile numbers at the P.S. part of the letter.

May that fighting spirit always remain in you no matter what, you hear? See you soon.

Rai Armstrong

P.S.

Me - 078492036188

Shell - 079315642028


	2. Dear Lexi

Letter 2 - Dear Lexi

Dear Lexi

It's been a long time since we had that talk before you left school for good. Of course, you had some home tutoring while you were saving the world as well, so at least you still wanted to go through with the exams. Did you get any good results? I bet you did, because you were bright and always wanted to learn new things, even if others tried to put you down. Now everyone in the Acmetropolis University says how courageous you are and how that Casey should have let you in the cheerleading team in the first place.

But now you're on a better team, a team where they don't seem to reject you at all. I know you've gone through at lot of times where you weren't accepted, but now everyone else at the university are all on your side. And I am too. I will always be on your side no matter what. I just wished I could have made you feel as happy as you are now that you're with the Loonatics. I've never said this to you before but... I really do love you. I think you have a personality which no-one deserved to break. It's that delicate that I felt that I have to be with you in order to stop you from falling apart, or doing something worse which I would have regreted if I let you do it. Though, I couldn't understand you when you talked about that 'voice' that time when you were near the river. I guess it's something that you and those guys in your team understand.

When I saw you with them in your superhero team I was apprehensive, incase they did the same thing to you as many other people have done. But when I see you saving the world against things beyond our imagination, I felt that those guys are taking good care of you. Especially that Ace Bunny guy. He seems to have taken a real liking to you. You two work well together when you're with him. He seems to have healed most of your wounds that may have showed when you first met the whole team. In fact, all them seemed to have taken you under their wing when you were sad or not feeling confident. I just wished could have done that for you.

But it doesn't matter. Me and you were just never to be. I'm not saying I don't like you anymore. I just think you're better off with them than you are with me anyways. I just hope they keep you happy. As long you're still smiling, then I will smile back.

If you do want to stay in touch with me, then you've still got my E-mail address. If you haven't, I'll put it here. It's . I hope we can still talk to each other. I'll be waiting for your reply.

Yours sincerely, Matt Quarry 


	3. Dear Tech

Letter 3 - Dear Tech

Dear Tech

It's strange to think that a year ago, you were kicked out of the institute, fell into the coma after the meteor hit the city, and became part of a superhero team. That must have been a real big turn around for you.

I mean, you were a lot younger than the rest of the class when you first came to the institute. I remember people giving you a lot of grief because you were an anthrosapien and I recall them saying how you shouldn't have been accepted in there in the first place. When I first saw you, I had to admit I found it unusual for someone like you to just turn up in our class. But as time went on, I began to think that there was more to you than everyone knew.

For starters, while everyone else left for lunch or went home for that matter you always stayed behind to finish the project or assignments that have been set for us. I know that I always focused on my work, but I wished I had the same amount of focus as you. I wish I had the amount of energy, enthusiasm, and determination to finish my work as you have. And so when you present your findings to our mentors, everyone else would either be jealous because they couldn't have been as deep with their scientific explanations, or just try to put your morale down so they could at least absorb some of your confidence into them. But for me, I would stare in awe and wonder how on Earth you managed to work all thoses formulas and evaluations yourself.

But you always seem to keep yourself away from everyone else, and not making the effort to socialise with people. I suppose if everyone else stay away from you, I suppose you do keep yourself to yourself. It must be really lonely for you to just try and get by all alone. And I know Jack and everyone else with his wise-cracks didn't help you as well. But I just followed them so I wouldn't be another victim. I feel so ashamed of myself when I look back on it now. In fact, I wish I could have been your friend and helped you with what you were trying to achieve. I wanted the same thing as you; to know everything there is to know about... well, everything. But I guess I was hanging around with the wrong people. They genuinely didn't thirst for knowledge because they wanted to like you do. But it's always the ones who do things for the right reasons that always gets put down. Was that why you completely ignored everyone after that incident with that Mallory Casey? Did you think everyone was blaming you for giving her ammunition of your knowledge, so that she could use the machine to take everyone else's knowledge away? Or was it because you were too afraid to do anything with everyone, incase they tried to do similar things like she did?

I think you'll find it the worst time for me to say this to you, but it wasn't your fault that she was going to do that. You didn't tell her to take everyone else's knowledge just for the sake of it. You didn't even know she was going to do it until the last minute. And even then, the mentors who were there appreciated you for stopping her malicious plans. You two were as clever as each other. It's just you two wanted to do different things with that knowledge. You wanted to use it to help everyone and society, and she wanted to use it for her own selfish needs. You can be given knowledge by someone, and you can even give the information you were just given to someone else. But you can't just take that knowledge away from someone. It's impossible because once it's there, it will always stay with you forever.

That was what I was hoping for when we heard you were one of the comatised victims. Some people in the institute said that it was such a big impact, that you could have lost your memory and everything you knew permanently. When they said that, I kept wishing so hard that it would never happen to you. I envied you having so much intelligence on you, I prayed that you would still have everything in your head intact by the time you woke up. So it was such a relief for me when we went into your place to see if you were there, researching on that meteor phenomena. You've still got that intelligence I admire. When I see you on TV with your friends saving the world, you inspire me to continue with my studies until graduation.

And I see you on TV working and talking to the other members of the superhero team. Whatever they've done or said made you open up yourself a little more. Plus, I always see you smile with confidence when I see the news. I'm so glad you're somewhere where you're able to unleash your true potential without any one critisising you.

Well I better get back to writing my essay. The dealine is in a few days time, and I want to do well for this unit. I hope you keep using your intelligence for the good of man kind. I will always be inspired by you as long as you do that. And maybe someday, we could get to know each other a little better like I wanted to a long time ago.

Yours sincerely, Hitoshi Kazaiyama 


	4. Dear Rev

Letter 4 - Dear Rev

Rev, darling. It's your mother here.

I wasn't sure how I could contact you without disturbing your other duties. So I decided writing this letter would be the easiest way to at least talk to you. It's just we haven't seen you in nearly a year, so it's not been the same since you went away. I know you're just doing your duty as one of the protectors of the city, but I do get worried whenever I see you fighting evil people and giant creatures. It's just not safe for you to do that. But as my son, you want to find your own independence and I appreciate that.

But why did you have to work in the city when your father is already successful with the family business? I know you wanted to work and all, but you could have easily just joined your father's business. It would have been a lot easier if you just worked alongside your father. And you were so close to finishing that business studies course in college as well. It was a terrible shame that meteor put you into the hospital for such a long time. You would have done so well.

But I suppose you're happy with your new friends, fighting against crime to protect the human race? Well as long as you're happy, then that puts me at ease. It's just you have superpowers, but you might have not wanted to be a superhero. And if you didn't want to be one, that's fine as long as you don't use them to do bad things like robbing banks, and horrible things like that. But what you're doing with your friends makes me proud to be your mother.

I almost forgot, but Rip managed to pass his first part of his exams this year. He just needs to study for his finals exams. And your father is doing very well with his business. He managed to sell off those Holophone 675s like hot bird seed muffins. And everything in the house is in order as usual.

Which reminds me, we have to visit you and your friends when your father and Rip aren't busy. It would be so delightful to see how you're getting on after all this time. I hope we get to see you again very soon. Call us if you need anything.

Love from, Your Ma

P.S: I hope that you've got some spare, fresh underwear that have been washed. 


	5. Dear Daniel Duck

Letter 5 - Dear Duck

Dear Daniel

I am writing this letter with great joy. After all this time, I finally see that you are alright. Words can't express how happy I am to finally know that you are well. If only you could see my smiling face now. Do you know how I managed to finally find you after all this time?

I saw you on television. And what did I see you do? Taking down evil villains and monsters, and protecting the city from terrifying disasters. Who would have thought that my little Daniel Duck would grow-up to be so amazing? But then again, I have always been proud of who you are. I could never be a prouder parent no matter how hard I tried.

If only your father knew that you would become someone he would be proud to call our son. Because all our other ancestors haven't been so successful in their time, he just assumed that you would be no different. I believed that you would be someone people can look up to and say how much of a good person you are. But no matter how hard I tried to convince him, he still refused to keep you. And so I had no choice but to leave you with the orphanage that night, in order for you to live your life with less disapponment than you would have if you still lived with us.

Now this may enrage you, but both your father and I want to see you someday. You may say that your father would only want to see you now because you've made a household name for yourself. But I want you to understand that we both love you. We both worry whenever you go on those dangerous missions, and we fear that you may not come back alive with every mission you go to.

But no matter what you do or who manage to become, we will always love you. Just promise us you'll stay alive long enough for us to be able to talk when you can.

Remember, we will always love you.

XXX 


	6. Dear Ace

Letter 6 - Dear Ace

Dear Ace

How does it feel to have been a superhero for a year? Strange isn't it? About a year ago, you were lying in that hospital bed unconscious thanks to that meteor that fell down from space. And then you discovered that you had superpowers when we were going to do the movie. I know it was frightening for you. I saw it on your face. That's why you ran away from the set. You were scared that you were going to hurt someone with them.

But when you ran away from the movie set, I was worried for you because I was afraid that something even worse could have happened to you. You were running in such a panic, you could have been run over or something. If that happened to you, I would regret it forever. Even if you could survive that, I should have made more of an effort to stop you from panicking and running away.

Since you disappeared, I couldn't focus on anything else apart from wanting to know where you were. I even decided to look for you on some days just so I know that you would be alive and well. It wasn't until I saw you battling that Jack guy that my mind was put at rest. I felt better after seeing your face once more on there. I just hoped that you didn't get killed by that Jack.

I must say though you were a lot more heroic than what Mr Kawaski ordered you to be. He just wanted you to get battered by anything he thought would make that Cale Van Hammond look good compared to you. But looking at you now, you're better than him or any other movie actor who has been given the movie part of a fictional hero. People like you and the rest of your team, needs to be appreciated more than celebrities who are just famous because they are. You guys actually make a positive difference in society unlike them.

I have to go as I have to make some clothes for the top Acmetropolis fashion designer, Betty Satin. And if I don't meet the deadlines, then who knows what trouble would occur.

I'm just glad you're getting to be the hero you finally wanted to be. Take care.

Taya Quinton 


	7. Epilogue Chapter 1

Epilogue - Chapter 1

"Hey guys!" Rev chirped cheerfully as he waved some turquoise holo-envelopes in the air into the living room, where the other loonatics were. "We have mail!"

"Well who's got what?" Lexi asked as she took off the headphones from her head and placed them on the glass dining table.

"Well lets see," Rev flicked through the envelopes. "There's a few bits of junk mail, but it seems we have an envelope each."

The roadrunner rushed around the other loonatics to give them their envelopes. Once placed in their hands, they all pressed a red button on the envelopes to open their mail.

"Well I hope it's fan mail from some fan girl who's seen my heroic efforts on that mission a few days ago." Duck's eyed scanned the letter.

He read a few paragraphs before his bright blue eyes widened. The rest of the loonatics stared at Duck for a moment before Ace finally approached him from the side.

"Eh, what's up Duck? Looks like you've seen a ghost."

The mallard shot an angered yet frightened glare.

"Shut up! You shouldn't be so curious! Leave me alone!"

Before the rabbit could take a peek at the letter, it disappeared along with Duck using his quatum teleportation. Ace turned to his letter.

"I wonder what Duck was so ruffled about." He muttered as he studied his own letter.

"It's nice to see that wherever you are, or what you're doing, your mother is always checking that you have some clean underwear Rev." Lexi giggled next to the roadrunner.

"Hey! It's not funny! It's embarrassing!" He shot back while blushing in embarrassment. "Besides, I always have clean underwear because it's dirty and unhygenic if I don't. And if my mom was here right now to see that they are dirty, she'd make me clean them up immediately."

Slam chuckled behind the quarreling pair before picking up his cell phone and dialling a few numbers on the phone pad. As he did so, he wandered away from the group and into his room.

When Ace finally finished reading his letter, he walked up to Tech. The coyote was still reading his letter and he snapped out of his nostalgia when he heard the leader approaching.

"Isn't it funny that it's been a year since the meteor gave us our powers?" The rabbit commented to the scientist.

Tech grunted.

"I wonder where we'd be without it." He replied.

"Yeah." Ace smiled. "Where would we be right now?"

---------------------------------------------------------------

Having read the letter for a multiple amounts of time, Duck couldn't believe what he was reading as he sat at the edge of his orange duvet on his bed. Already streams of tears ran down his black feathery cheeks. His fearful expression was still fixed on his face since he read the letter for the first time.

For the first time ever, Duck felt speechless and lost for words. He couldn't contain the varieties of emotions swirling around him. Happiness; because he finally knew something that he didn't know before until the letter finally arrived. Anger; because he kept asking himself why the sender never wrote to him before until now. And fear of if the letter was fake, or whether it was real and he had the choice to go to whoever sent him the letter. On the one hand, he desperately wanted to go and find the sender as he had so many questions to ask them. And he knew that they were the only ones who had the answers. On the other hand, he feared that they wouldn't really want him to come based on what the letter had told him.

"Because all our other ancestors haven't been so successful in their time, he just assumed that you would be no different. But no matter how hard I tried to convince him, he still refused to keep you."

The mallard stared down at the floor in deep thought. A few minutes later, he stood up from his bed, and approached his wardrobe. He pulled open the doors and rumaged through the contents from within it.

END OF EPILOGUE CHAPTER 1. 


	8. Epilogue Chapter 2

Epilogue - Chapter 2

To:

From: -----------------------------------------------------------------

Hey Matt! It's Lexi ^-^

It's been such a long time since I longed into my account on here. I mean, I had to create a new account on another website for my own security. But even then, some fans manage to find me there (Ha ha!) XD . So now you've recieved this message, you know that I have read your letter.

As I read your letter, I felt a bit of nostagia warm up inside me like someone had just come and hugged me. Not everything I remembered about my university life was pleasant of course, but I guess I did have some good times with you there as well. We were really close friends weren't we? We were practically inseperable. In fact, people assumed we were already going out with each other. We were always together.

And as I remembered these things, I looked back at the times when you'd console me after I had a bullying session with the other students. No matter where I hid, somehow you always managed to find me. Either you were really good at hide and seek, or you knew me well enough to know where I ran to after the bullies went away. I can remember the warmth you gave me whenever you hugged me, and you were always cooing me like a mother with their child saying everything will be okay. At the time, I would be too emotional to see things in a positive light. But since reading your letter, I know now that you were trying to stop me from going off the rails. You said in your letter that I was in a team where I will be well looked after, and that I won't be rejected by the guys I'm with now. But the truth is, if you haven't had been there for me I would have turned into a monstrous super-villain and then I would have been truly alone. So for helping me choose the path I'm on now, I want to say thank you. I will always be grateful for what you've done for me.

And don't you worry, I will be okay with the other guys. I'll always be happy whenever I am because of them. But I will always want to be friends with you, no matter where we are. I mean, we'll always be best friends forever, right?

With lots of love, your best friend Lexi ^-^

----------------------------------------------------------------

Lexi clicked on the mouse to send the message. Once the screen notfied her message was sent, she stared at the computer screen for a few seconds. Then a smile raised on her face as a single tear rolled down her pink cheek. Suddenly, the door creaked open. Lexi swiftly wiped her salt tears away from her face, before she turned around on her chair to find Ace leaning against the door way.

"Hey Lex," He said in his casual tone. "Are you okay?"

The female rabbit nodded her head.

"I'm fine thanks."

"Well... Just making sure that's all." Ace smiled.

Lexi fidgeted with a lock of her blonde hair.

"Thanks."

The leader smiled as he turned to walk out of her room. Once he was out of sight, Lexi turned her attention back to the computer monitor. She gave another smile as another tear rolled down her cheek once more.

END OF EPILOGUE CHAPTER 2 


	9. Epilogue Chapter 3

Epilogue - Chapter 3

Tech sat back and gave a sigh of relief as he cradled a small, silver, remote controlled beetle in his hands. The coyote could see his reflection on it's metallic surface like a mirror. Even though the beetle was the size of an orange, it took him a long time to fix the circuits it had inside as well as polishing the metal on the outside. The beetle's beedy, black eyes stared at the coyote innocently. The inventor's smile suddenly raised as he reminded himself of when he first made it.

It was when Tech was in pre-school, and like every break time the children had he always sat on a table away from everyone else whilst working on some form of gadget. The gadget in question was a silver beetle with three legs on each side, with a pair of black, beady eyes. Just as he was screwing the last screw into it, a voice interrupted his trail of thought.

"What's that?"

The coyote remembered turning his head to a boy his age. He seemed to have come from an oriental background becuase of his short black hair and the distinctive face. At first, he didn't reply as everyone else seemed too busy playing their childhood games to take any notice of the young inventor. Finally, he explained to the stranger it's purpose of being controlled to move by a remote control. The human child seemed fascinated by the device, unlike any other child who would lose interest from the lecture.

"That's amazing!" The boy said in excitement. "I wish I could invent cool things like you do!"

Those words rung in Tech's ears. He appreciated the fact that another kid like him wanted to know more about the world around them, rather than getting caught up in childish games. The statement sounded snobbish, but at least Tech didn't burst into tears when he found out that Santa Claus didn't exist. As he gazed down onto his beetle again, he began to wonder whether the little boy did grow up to be an inventor like he said he wanted to be. The coyote opened up the wings to reveal four different coloured buttons; red, yellow, green and blue. Instictively, he pressed the red button and leaned his head closer to the beetle's head.

"Hitoshi Kazaiyama? It's Tech. E. Coyote. Do you remember? You were the kid at pre-school who asked me what the beetle I made was. The beetle that's giving you this message right now is the thing I made. It's had an upgrade since the first time I made it as you have noticed already"  
"Originally, it was only able to move with just a remote control. But now it can move independantly according to who you want to send it to. Once it finds the person this message is addressed to, you press the green button to play the message. But if you recieved the piece of paper instructing you how to hear this message, then obviously you managed to get it to work."

"I knew you were a clever guy. You just hung around with the popular people just to stay protected from bullying. I don't blame you for that. You didn't want to be part of it. So it was a choice between staying safe or getting teased about being different. But that's what made Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and all the other scientists famous and so important. They stuck to finding out the truth rather than going along with the crowd, no matter what everyone else have told them. They didn't let bullying influence them to give up on their evidence of a great discovery. So whatever you do, stick to what you believe is right rather than follow everyone else's opinion. I know you're clever you just need the confidence to share it with the world."

"If you do want to send a message back to me, first press the red button to record your message then press the blue button to save it. On it's under belly, remove the metal plate and you find a keypad like a computer keyboard. Type in the same you want to send it to and press enter. Slide the metal plate back over the keypad and press the yellow button. The beetle will fly to the recipient that you've selected."

"Before I save this message, I want to say thank you for sending that message to me. It's good to hear that you're doing alright. And... you just do your best."

As Tech pressed the blue button, he typed Hitoshi's name on the keypad as he said in the recording. He gazed at the beetle one more time before he pushed the yellow button down. As the coyote leaned back, the silver wings on the beetle fluttered like a hummingbird. It hovered for a few seconds before it zoomed out of the laboratory out of sight.

"And now all I have to do is wait." He grinned to himself as he cushioned his head on his hands and pushed himself against his chair.

END OF EPILOGUE CHAPTER 3. 


	10. Epilogue Chapter 4

Epilogue - Chapter 4

The grey clouds dominated the sky as Duck trooped up a set of steel stairs up a grey apartment block. As he left the last step, pulled his sandy, brown mackintosh coat closer to keep himself warm from the cold breeze that blew in the air. With each step he took past the other white apartment doors, he could not shake off his nervous shivering inside his body. But keeping a straight expression on his face compressed his urge to return to HQ. It seemed that all the important things were the ones that no-one wants to do. But in the end, he knew that what he was going to do is important and it had to be done.

Finally, he stopped at a door with the number '27' on it. Slowly, he raised his arm towards the door bell at the side of the door. At first, he hesitated as he gathered some last minute thoughts on what sort of greeting he would recieve off the people who would open the door to him. He pushed his finger against the button that set off a buzzing noise that he could just hear. He took a step back and waited patiently for a reply.

"Oh. Are you a relative of the Ducks?" An elderly voice asked.

Duck turned his head to an old woman with a burgandy coat who was ready with her card to unlock her apartment door. The mallard cleared his throat.

"I'm just visiting," He replied. "Are they out at the moment?"

"Well, you're more likely to find Mrs Duck at the Acmetropolis hospital." The woman suggested. "Her husband has been seriously ill and she visits him everyday. She's been ever so worried. Do want me to take a message to her?"

Duck paused when she finished her explaination.

"He's in hopstial?" He checked.

The woman nodded her head.

"I don't know what he's suffering from, but it must have been severe enough for him to be in hospital for a while."

Duck knew that he had to get the hospital fast.

"Thanks." He shot out as he brushed past the woman and ran down the steps as fast as he could.

As he disappeared from view, the elderly woman stared into the space where the mallard vanished from.

"Could that be..." She began, only to shake her head, swipe her card down the swipe card key device, and slowly hobbled through the door way.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No! No! No!" Rai desperately smashed his thumbs on the game controller.

"Wow." Shell said. "Slam creamed you again."

Slam gave a chuckle as the television screen flashed his avatar as the winner of the virtual wrestling match. Rai glared at the girl.

"Well, I was just warming up." He frowned.

"So now that you've lost for the tenth time, perhaps you can finally beat him." Shell gave a mischevious grin. "You've hogged the controller when it was supposed to be winner stays on."

"You can have a go when I beat this Tasmanian devil!" Rai snarled.

Slam took another slice of cheese and tomato pizza and took a bite out of it.

"Raguh braguh stop fighting." He growled in his casual tone.

"Then let me win and then Shell can have a go!" Rai clenched his fist.

"No way!" Slam barked.

Shell giggled.

"You two are still as stubborn as you have been in the past. You never hold back, even now."

Both of the men stared at the girl.

"Well we have to try and show our masculine dominance over each other so we wouldn't be known as sissies!" Rai pointed at his yellow, sleeveless shirt as Slam nodded in agreement.

"But it's not like you two are enemies huh?" Shell smiled.

"Grah still friends." The Tasmanian devil grinned as he wrapped his arm around Rai's shoulders and rubbed his knuckles on top of his blonde, spikey hair.

Rai yelped as he managed to struggle out of Slam's grip.

"Do you mind!?" He snapped in annoyance.

Much to her amusement, Shell laughed as she detached another slice of pizza from the pizza box.

"I'm glad we're all still friends. Even when we went on our separate ways."

"Yeah." Rai agreed. "It's good that we're together again."

Slam expressed the same opinion by giving them a hug bear hug. As he squeezed his friends closer, he appreciated the warmth that spread in his body.

"Slam! We can't breathe!" Shell puffed.

Forgetting his own strength, Slam loosened his grasp on both of them. The humans laughed as they got their breath back.

"Were you trying to suffocate us?" Rai huffed.

"Blaguh bah my friends!" Slam smiled.

"Real friends don't try and kill them by squeezing them to death." Rai gave a sly smile.

"Ragh not kill you!" Slam defended in a friendly manner.

"Oh yeah?" Rai grinned. "Well we'll see about that when I take you down on the wrestling game!"

"You're going down!" Slam grabbed one of the game controllers.

"Make me!" Rai grabbed the other controller as they readied themselves for the next match.

"Hey!" Shell barked. "You said I could have a go after you! I want to play against Slam!"

But the boys ignored her complaints as they pressed frantically on the buttons of the controllers.

END OF CHAPTER 4. 


	11. Epilogue Chapter 5

Epilogue - Chapter 5

Stepping out of the yellow taxi, Rev pulled out his grey and red luggage bag with him. After he paid his fare and the taxi vanished, the roadrunner turned and started approaching a building which looked like two square based prisms stuck together.

The other Loonatics may have said that he could visit his family for the weekend, but Rev still hoped that they were coping fine. He knew that if there was any epidemic trouble back at Acmetropolis, he was sure that he would make it there in time to help the others. After all, his super speed would be useful to get to the city, beat whatever's causing the trouble, and be back with his family before dinner.

When he finally reached the front door, he pressed the doorbell button. As the doorbell tune rang from the inside, he felt a bit of nostalgia warm up from inside of him. His mother always liked the tune that played whenever someone rang it. It was one that made her look forward to whoever was standing at the other side of the door, even if it was someone like the postman.

"She must be really excited to see me. They all must be." He thought as the door opened. A friendly, familiar feminine face peered around the door. Her face suddenly lit up.

"Rev my baby, you came!" She embraced him with a hug.

"Mom!" Rev smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so glad to see you too!"

"You must have had a tiring journey." His mother withdrew herself as she guided her son into the house. "Come in. Come in."

Once inside the house, the warmth immediately enshrouded him. Everything from the green couch, the exotic plants right down to the red carpet were still in the places they were when he visited them the last time. As his mother entered the pine wood kitchen, Rev gave himself a secret grin.

"Nothing's changed." He murmured to himself with a smile until he was approached by two more road runners.

"My my, how's my favourite eldest son?" The older bird gushed. "I haven't seen you in such a while since that incident with the whole Robo Amigo palooka with Rip. But it's so good to see my son again."

"Thanks dad." Rev smiled. "I'm happy to see you as well. How have you and Rip been since I left?"

"We've been doing great." Rip piped up. "We've been working on Robo the Cyberdog for the kids who prefer animal robots to the more human like Robo Amigo. And we're launching it next month once we get the approval of the manufactuers."

"Well that's great bro!" Rev said. "You guys must have got on fine for you two to invent Robo."

"Of course we do!" His father rubbed his knuckles gently across the crest of purple feathers on top of Rip's head. "We've always got on fine haven't we son?"

"Yes dad. We get on fine." Rip struggled out of his father's grip until he finally pulled his head out from his father's arms.

"Rip, why don't you help Rev put his stuff in his old room?" Their father suggested. "It'll give ya more time to talk."

"Sure."

Once their father left them alone, Rev followed Rip along the hallway. Rev looked at all the photos in their frames along the walls. Each one was a snap shot of a happy family memory. In some of the frames, there was just one or two road runners in the pictures. But most of them contained all the members bearing their cheesy grins at the camera. Once they finally arrived at a door, Rip twisted the handle and pushed it open for him. Rev entered the room and his face lifted up. Everything was just as immaculately clean as he left it before going back to Acmetropolis. All his athletics medals were lined up neatly on top of his drawers. His blue duvet covered bed was made up neatly with his pillows plumped up. Along the blue walls were posters of the Acmetropolis Rangers and other basherball posters that he used to admire. As he was completely lost in nostalgia, Rip intrrupted his thoughts.

"Rev, are you okay?" He asked.

The older brother shook his head to place himself back into the present time and gave him a smile.

"I'm fine." He assured his younger sibling. "It's like nothing's changed from when I left. I'm glad it's stayed that way."

"But so much has happened since the meteor came down." Rip recalled. "You became a superhero, and I almost tried to destroy Acmetropolis but you saved me, the family business has never been so busy and-"

"Still, nothing's changed." Rev interjected. "Everything is still in their places, and we're all still together. And that is good enough for me."

"Even this?" Rip gave a mischievious grin as he grabbed one of Rev's pillows and smacked it upon his brother's head.

"Hey!" Rev yelled as he grabbed his other pillow and hit it upon Rip's head.

The brothers battled it out as feathers started to appear from the pillows. They continued to smack their pillows into each other until both of the road runner's arms grew tired. As the feathers floated down to the ground, they slumped onto the bed. Puffing out of exhaustion, the brothers began to laugh.

"You're right Rev." Rip chuckled. "Nothing has changed."

"You said it bro." Rev agreed as his knuckles knocked into Rips knuckles as though they acknowledged the same opinion.

END OF EPILOGUE CHAPTER 5. 


	12. Epilogue Chapter 6

Epilogue Chapter 6

Ace hugged the bag of groceries to his chest while weaving in and out of the crowd of people in the bustling street. Specks of grey clouds covered the orange and purple blended evening sky. The rabbit knew the other Loonatics would be waiting for him and the take away meals he had in his arms. Just when he busily tried to dodge another pedestrian, his head glanced to a building for one moment and caught his eye on a giant poster.

"All Items Must Go!"

Ace stopped as he saw a familiar figure through the window of which the poster was stuck onto. He reserved his return to the headquarters and pushed the door open so he could enter.

Once inside, he stood in a half empty shop where some colourful clothes still hung on the rails. But piles of cardboard boxes were scattered on the floor, each with written labels. Disappointed, Ace turned around to exit the shop.

"I'm sorry. But the shop's now closed."

The female voice froze the rabbit. He spun around to find a red-haired girl staring at him. Ace immediately recognised her face.

"Taya? What's going on here?"

"Oh, Ace." The girl seemed suprised to see him. "You startled me."

"Sorry." The rabbit apologised.

For a moment, an awkward silence hung between them. Ace gave a nervous smile.

"I got your letter." He finally spoke. "It was really cute for ya to worry about me. But I'm fine now."

Taya bit her lip and giggled nervously.

"I... I was just concerned that you were going to get yourself in trouble if you weren't careful. I looked for you everywhere that day."

"Ya did?" Ace said with a disgruntled look.

"As I searched for you, I was thinking of how scared you were. I wanted to tell you everything was okay and that you didn't need to worry."

Instead of replying to what she said, Ace scanned the many boxes around them.

"So what's going on here d'en?" He asked.

Taya's face saddened as he eyes wandered down onto the floor.

"Well, the business has been going so well that Betty thought we should expand to New Paris. And..."

As Taya gulped, Ace's eyes widened.

"So you're leaving Acmetropolis?"

"It's a great opportunity to get some of my designs on the catwalk and hopefully, I can become just as successful as Betty Satin." Taya explained. "That's why I quit working for Kawaski. I want to follow my dream of becoming a fashion designer."

"I see." The rabbit said. "So you've made your decision?"

Ace squeezed the bag and gazed down at the floor.

"Ya know?" He murmured. "You've been such a good friend to me. Ya made me feel less lonely when we were on the set. No-one but you stood by me."

Taya blushed.

"But I just wanted you to go along with the director so there wouldn't be any conflict. I didn't want you to get into trouble." She told him.

"And if you hadn't have been there, trouble is what I would have caused." Ace smiled. "I know karate was supposed to teach me self control. But if he had said one more insult to me, I would have knocked him out."

Taya gave a genuine giggle.

"That would have made an excellent scene for the movie." She said.

"Taya! Have you got those jackets boxed up yet?" An anonymous voice called from the back of the shop.

"Not yet! I'll get that done!" The girl yelled back.

Ace smiled again.

"Is Betty as demanding as Kawaski?" He asked.

"She can be." Taya answered. "But she does it more nicely."

"So when will you be leaving for New Paris?"

"Tomorrow."

Ace placed the bag he held onto for so long onto a stack of boxes near him.

"Then I guess this is goodbye." He murmured as he embraced her into a hug. As his arms wrapped around her body, he wished that they would stay like it forever so Taya would never have to leave him. He then felt Taya's arms squeeze around his torso.

"I'll miss you Ace." Her voice trembled.

"Man, this feels like those romantic endings where the couple leave each other for the future." The rabbit choked.

"Yeah..." Taya sighed. "The future..."

As both of them disconnected from each other, Taya turned to pick up a box full of garments as Ace picked up the luke-warm dinner. They both gaze at each other for the last time.

"Well," Ace turned for the door for the second time. "I'll see ya in da future."

As he stepped out of the shop out of sight, Taya's face softened to an emotionless expresson.

"I'll see you too Ace." She choked, hoping that he heard her last goodye before the door finally shut itself.

END OF EPILOGUE CHAPTER 6. 


	13. Epilogue Chapter 7

Epilogue Chapter 7

"Mr Duck?" The blue uniformed nurse said. "He's in ward four. You go straight until you turn left and go up some stairs. Then you follow the signs from there."

"Thanks." The mallard tipped his sandy, brown hat to her as he set off for the stairs. He wasn't sure whether it was the layout of the corridors and rooms, or whether it was its purpose, he found hospitals an uncomfortable place to be. Even with the beige tiled floors and the cream walls, to him, the hospital had an eerie atmosphere to it. When he was a child, he only visited it when he had something drastically wrong with him and that was not very often. But the same nervous feelings spread in his stomach like they did when he was an infant. But he knew he didn't have a stomach bug this time.

His anxiousness increased with every step he took up the stairs as well as every step closer to the ward that his parents happened to be in. As instructed, he followed the signs taking to a set of double doors with the sign "Ward 4" written on the top. After cleansing his hands with the antibacterial fluid, he pushed the doors open and read a sign in front of him. He read through the list of patients and which rooms they were in. He eventually located the name of the room his parents were in.

"Drake Duck - Room 10."

Duck strolled to the right.

As the mallard past each room, he contemplated in his mind what he was going to ask the parents, who abandoned him, and never came back to see what he became as he grew up. His hands clenched in his pockets as he finally stopped at the exact door. His left hand slowly covered the door handle. Hesitantly, he pressed it down and pushed it out cautiously.

He strode in expecting to have two pairs of eyes staring at the offspring that they never took the chance to know. Instead, he found a female water-fowl wearing a short-sleeved, burgundy dress. She seemed to have hunched herself over the legs of a mallard lying unconscious. He shared almost all of Duck's appearances, but being older, the patient looked wearier. As both of them we're asleep, Duck decided to pull a blue, plastic chair next to the bed and place himself on it.

"So, you're the one who's meant to be my father?" The mallard rested his head onto the back of his hands. He gave a chuckle.

"It's funny because you're also the one who decided I was a reject, a snub," Duck leant his face closer to the patient's face. "An unwanted child."

He pulled his face back, stood up from his chair, and started wandering around the room.

"You thought that I'd be just like our ancestors before us; always tried to work their way up the ladder of success, only to be dragged down to disappointment and failure. Maybe because you were a failure in the past that you thought I'd be the same."

Realising his mother was there too, he bent down to her level.

"And you." He whispered so he didn't wake her up. "The woman I should call 'mother'. You tried but failed to convince him to give me a chance. And you gave up. If you wanted me that badly, you would have fought a little harder for me than you did back then."

A sore lump developed in his throat as he wandered back to his seat again and glared at his sleeping father.

"So back to what I was saying about failure," His voice strained as he tried to keep his emotions under control. "You thought that because all of our ancestors in the past have failed miserably, you assumed I would do the same."

Try as he did, tears started to stream down his face.

"Didn't you know how hard it is to try and compress all the sadness, the anger and the confusion into yourself so that no-one will think you're weak?" He stammered. "Didn't you know that I had to put on an act in front of everyone else so that no-one would find me as a target to bullying? Didn't you think about what I could have become when you held me in your arms for the first time? Did you?"

Duck stripped off his sandy brown mackintosh to reveal him in his uniform. Even if his father slumbered during his confession, Duck wanted to prove something to him.

"This uniform I'm wearing says, 'I am Danger Duck, I am part of a superhero team and I have risked my life so that you, mom, and everyone else in this damn city can still live to see another day'. I am a hero! You hear me? I am a hero!"

Silence held after the volume of his voice rose. He spoke so loud it could have woke both his parents up. But they still slept. Duck slumped back into his chair and made eye contact with his father once more.

"I could have used these powers to get my revenge on everyone that has wronged me. I could have used them to hurt you and mom." He seethed through his teeth. "I could be committing robberies, mass murders and the apocalypse if I wanted to! But I haven't yet. Do you want to know why that is?"

His voice wavered as more tears trickled down his face.

"I wanted you and mom to be proud of me." He mumbled. "I wanted you to watch me save the city with my friends and boast to everyone else, 'That's my boy, Daniel Duck! I'm so proud to call him my son!' Where were you while I was doing that huh? Where were you? "

Duck buried his face into his hands and bawled into them. His eyes burned as he sobbed. As he cried, a quiet raspy voice broke the mallard's whimpering.

"Daniel… is that you?"

Duck's head slowly tilted up as he gazed at his father's face.

"Drake Duck? Dad?"

"Son… my only son… you came…" The patient smiled as he embraced his son into a hug. Duck hesitated as he was unsure how to react after he told his parents what he thought of them. He hated them for what they did to him, but they seemed to have begun to except him into the family again. For the sake of this reunion, Duck slowly placed his arms around his father's waist. He found it uncomfortable and slightly claustrophobic but he wasn't trying to show it in front of his father. He didn't want to ruin his first meeting with his parents in many years. His father suddenly winced as he placed his hand at the side of his head. Duck broke from his father's grip and watched him recover from the sharp pain. He sighed as though he had just come out from being strangled by someone. Just then, Duck looked over to find his mother finally stirring.

"Dear," She groaned to her husband. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Drake seethed until his smile returned to his face. "Guess who's come to see us, Dahlia."

The female water-fowl glanced over to Duck. Her eyes filled with tears of happiness.

"It's you! You came!" She cuddled him.

Once again, Duck had to play along with it just to keep things normal between them. Just then, a word slipped out of his mouth.

"Why?"

"What?" Dahlia made eye contact with her son.

"Why did you want me to come now?" He murmured as he gently pushed his mother away from him.

"Daniel…"

"You could have tried to call me at any other time," He continued. "So why didn't you call me until now? Is it because I didn't progress to anything until that meteor came?"

"Daniel," His mother's voice trembled. "That's not it!"

"Maybe if the meteor never came, I wouldn't have known you're alive because you didn't want anything to do with a future failure." Duck clenched his fists.

"Daniel, I'm sorry!" His father finally burst out to silence the atmosphere.

Duck glared at his father.

"Oh now you're sorry!" He said sarcastically.

"Daniel! Just stop and listen for a moment!" The patient barked. He looked down onto the bed and sighed.

"Have you ever felt that you never seem to appreciate something until it's almost or completely gone?"

"Plenty of times." Daniel nodded.

"When you were with us, I said some horrible things about you." Drake continued. "Sometimes I wished that you were part of another family so I didn't feel more disappointed than I was then. But when that day came, when we dropped you off at that orphanage…"

He twiddled his fingers nervously.

"When we dropped you off at the orphanage, I felt nothing at first. But as time went on, I began to regret everything that I said and done. Dahlia kept saying if I wanted you that badly, I'd ask the staff to give you back. But I was afraid that if I tried that, you would never trust us ever again. I couldn't bear that so…"

Drake gave a soft smile to Duck.

"How old are you now son?" He asked.

"I'm twenty-one." His son replied.

"Eighteen years, I've spent regretting." Drake said. "And to finally meet you for the first time… I want us to start again. I know it sounds a bit atrocious for asking you to do this after what I've done. But your mother and I want to know everything you've done and everything about you. I want us to be a family again."

Duck's fist loosened to a normal hand as his father shakily extended his.

"My son," He posed. "Do you want to be part of this family again?"

**END OF EPILOGUE CHAPTER 7.**


	14. The Last Letter

**Epilogue – The Letter that Speaks of the Legend**

To Whom It May Concern:

I believe that life is very similar to stories. Everything and everyone has a beginning; the moment they were born into the world, a middle; where problematic obstacles are placed to prevent us from progressing on and the end; where eventually, everyone and everything dies. But unlike life, stories can be told over again, resurrecting the characters that we've grown to love as they set off to their adventures once more. They can even be changed to not only suit the audience but for the narrator too. In other words, life doesn't last forever but legends can.

There is one particular story I want to tell you about. And that is the story of the Loonatics, a group of superheroes, dedicating themselves to protect the city of Acmetropolis and all the people who live there at all costs. Many people have said that they lead exciting lives because they're superheroes. But I can assure them that before the meteor crashed onto Earth, our hero's stories were just as ordinary as an average citizen.

Once upon a time, Ace Bunny was an under-appreciated stunt double for an action movie even though the director could have exploited his exceptional martial art techniques. Now Ace has become his own leader of the superhero team and all of his own team members look up to him in ways than just in the battlefield. I hope that he continues to nurture his influential leadership skills.

In fact, there was someone who benefited from Ace's leadership. That was Lexi Bunny, the only female member of the group. When I first put the team together, I noticed that she wasn't interacting with the others. So when the rest of them tried to talk to her, she didn't say much to them. It was only sometime before she confessed that her shyness came from constant bullying in the past throughout her school life. Thanks to her team mate's compassion and understanding, she seems happier and more confident in herself and her abilities.

Another person who's definitely become stronger since joining the team is Slam Tasmanian. Before he quit the wrestling industry, nearly everyone took one glance at him and assumed he was as I quote "a big, stupid barbarian with no intelligence". So it came to such a surprise for him when the rest of the Loonatics managed to see a heart of gold under all of his muscle. In fact, he was so grateful that he gave them all a huge bear hug (although the others struggled to breathe before he let go of them). We knew he didn't mean any harm, but I don't see why people have to judge others by appearance first.

Although, I do confess that I judged Danger Duck from his arrogant behaviour. He was so egotistical and so full of himself that I questioned my decision of inviting him to join the team. But as time went by, I started to wonder about the way he acted and that was when I thought that maybe he was hiding something that he didn't want anyone else to know. Whether something happened in his past made him this way, I'm sure that it was his way of surviving without showing any sign of weakness.

Speaking of which, Tech E. Coyote was one of the more introverted member of the team. As clever as he was, he preferred to hide his intelligence behind closed doors at first. I used to wish he wasn't so modest about the things he invented because the others were always impressed with what ever he made to help improve the team's performance in their missions. But gradually, he's come out of his lab to join his friends in some recreational activities and seems to be enjoying himself more.

I think that was thanks to Rev Runner. He always had an optimistic approach to life, even when he was a sandwich delivery boy struggling with impossible demands from his old boss. Now Rev's enjoying his life as part of the team and the others seem to find the atmosphere comfortable and relaxed when he's around. Despite his petty squabbles with Tech about the coyote/road runner issue from the past, I'm glad that they've both settled their differences in a diplomatic manner.

I think it's strange yet hopeful how one disastrous event could bring so many strangers together. Especially one as cosmic as a meteor crash. If it hadn't have been for my brother's attempt to destroy Earth, I don't think the six Loonatics would have known each other as they do now. All of their stories wouldn't have intertwined into something so magnificent.

That's why I want the Loonatics story to be kept alive. I want their heroic efforts to be rewarded by their tale to be immortal, so that new generations would know about all the incredible things they did to protect and preserve not only their planet and home, but also other planets in the solar system, galaxies and other universes. I believe that a man is truly dead when they are forgotten by everyone.

I stand in high hopes that when Ace Bunny, Lexi Bunny, Slam Tasmanian, Danger Duck, Tech E. Coyote and Rev Runner all pass away in this world, they would still be kept alive as everyone who knows what they have done for them, speaks of "The Legend of the Loonatics" to their children and so on.

Zadavia


End file.
